


A Late Night Venture

by Red_Cheshire



Series: Childhood's End [2]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Aftermath, Background Character Death, Friendship, Gen, Grief/Mourning, It's either Lucas' birthday, Modern Era, Sleepovers, Sneakiness, Sneaking Out, or the anniversary
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-14
Updated: 2016-12-14
Packaged: 2018-09-08 11:44:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8843425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Red_Cheshire/pseuds/Red_Cheshire
Summary: Megan's parents are out of town, again, which would normally be a problem. But not tonight. Tonight is worth far too much to have anyone else around, none of them would be able to bear it otherwise.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is probably one of the first stories I've ever had any dialogue in.  
> Like with Past's Whitenoise this was also written with a list of prompt items that had to be included.

The house was dark and quiet, all the inhabitants asleep. Bar one. The last was curled up in bed, pretending to sleep, and had been for over an hour. Although truthfully she’d been waiting for days. Only moments before soft snores had reached pseudo-sleeping ears, the signal they’d been waiting for. One copper hand pulled the puffy pillow off a tired face, whilst the other pushed back the covers,the ‘sleeper’ let out a relieved sigh.

The room was dark, but a beam of hazy silver moonlight peaked through the crack between curtains, providing the girl with barely enough light to see. She sat up, keeping an ear out for sudden noises, as they sat up and swung long legs off the side of the bed to rest her feet on the carpeted floor. Pushing up from the mattress the tall, thin figure took quiet, careful steps as they walked across the room to a worn and battered dresser. Pausing for a moment, listening to the snores for any unusual breaks, the shadow pulled open the uppermost draw.

Over the last few days a bag had been prepared, and even before then, preparations had been made for weeks. An old waterproof bag, which had been found in the attic, had been surreptitiously smuggled down and filled with odds and ends that had gone ‘missing’. A spare toothbrush, an extra box of toothpaste, an old wallet with a few bills of lost money and a handful of spare change, a hairbrush, Megan’s binoculars and a set of clothes –socks and underwear included. If they had a sleeping bag that would have gone in too, but they didn’t, so it was more of an overnight bag. It had been a bit of surprise to find Megan’s missing binoculars, so those had been packed as well so they could be returned to her.

Throwing the bag over one shoulder she took a long look around the room; at the travel posters and maps pinned to the walls, at the glow-in-the-dark star constellations on the ceiling, at the globe lamp Simon had made as a birthday gift sitting on the bedside table, and at the calendar with the date circled in red. Her free hand rose and slim fingers ran through dark brown wavy curls.

The girl, barely sixteen, looked away from the old dreams and memories and walked slowly, carefully down the hall. The carpet muffled the already quiet footsteps, and the two sleeping adults were sleeping deeply, their own snoring deafening them to other, quieter sounds. It didn’t take long to reach the front door, and even then the recently oiled door made no squeaks or cries of protest as the teenager unlocked it and walked off into the night.

Steady, even footsteps echoed out into the night as she, just a lone figure in the dark under the scant light of streetlamps, walked with purpose. “If you act like you’re supposed to be somewhere then everyone will think you are,” that’s what Lucas had told them, a mock-lecture, before the accident. He’d been awesome, and they all still missed him.

It wasn’t a long walk, and the dark blue hoodie kept the chill out, so it didn’t take long for the tall teenager to approach Megan’s place. Stopping on the porch she knocked on the door, a pattern of four beats, ignoring the broken doorbell. The soft murmur of voices cut off as they recognised the knock, and she could hear one of the speakers padding over, footsteps clicking on bare wood floors, as they came to answer the door.

Fairylights lit up the back wall, the soft light trailing out from the living room, as Megan opened the door. The shorter girl blinked as she recognised the figure in front of her. “Claudia, I’m glad you made it.”

Claudia pushed a brown lock out of her eyes as she gave a soft smile. “How’s Cae holding up?” she asked gently as the red haired girl lead her into the house. “He’s holding up as well as can be expected, considering what day it is. I’m just glad that he came to us this year rather than just taking off again,” Megan’s voice was quiet, and both compassionate and reproachful, as they walked into the living room. Simon gave a short greet of a wave to Claudia as she entered, but her eyes were on Cae, tiny and dwarfed in his oversized red hoodie, one that had belonged to his brother, as the boy slipped in and out of a tired doze on the couch.

**Author's Note:**

> Please tell me if you notice any point where Word has eaten my spaces.


End file.
